No. 8 Cedar Rapids Xavier rallies to topple No. 4 North Scott, 26-20

CEDAR RAPIDS — You watched Kyler Gerardy and his North Scott teammates do basically whatever they wanted in their first three offensive possessions Friday night and figured Cedar Rapids Xavier was in some real trouble in this battle of ranked Class 4A football teams.

It was a long drive to start the game for North Scott and a touchdown run from Gerardy, the ultra-talented, multi-dimensional senior quarterback. Then it was another long drive and a touchdown pass from Gerardy to Cash Bowe.

North Scott’s third possession was identical: a 58-yard drive that Gerardy punctuated with a 3-yard touchdown run off a QB draw, making it a 20-7 Lancers game midway through the second quarter.

But then ...

The Saints kept the ball away from Gerardy and company via a relentless, clock-draining ground attack, shifting momentum and letting the Xavier defense regroup. Those patterns continued in the second half, and allowed Xavier to come from behind and post a 26-20 win at Saints Field.

North Scott came in ranked fourth and Xavier eighth. Both are now 4-2.

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Photos: Cedar Rapids Xavier football hosts North Scott

“You’ve been around me long enough,” said Xavier Coach Duane Schulte. “We’re never going to say we’re satisfied. We’re happy with the win, the kids had a great week of practice, and it’s nice to see that it paid off for them.”

Quarterback Ronan Thomas’ 1-yard touchdown sneak late in the third quarter tied things and his 2-yard TD run with 1:56 left won things. Gerardy unfortunately ended up injuring what appeared to be his right ankle on North Scott’s final possession, falling to the ground in obvious pain after making a cut on a 7-yard run that converted a fourth-and-2 play with just over a minute left.

He’d just received a scholarship offer from FCS power North Dakota State as a safety.

“He’s a really good player. Very mobile, tough to tackle, really shifty,” said Xavier defensive back Lucas Frost. “We just saw what they were in and had to adjust. Our coaches made great calls with us. We just got guys where they needed to be.”

Junior tailback Noah Schimberg had 23 carries for 134 yards and two touchdowns for Xavier. He started the season behind Coleton Beasler-Weber at the position, but has gotten the starting nod with Beasler-Weber moving to wide receiver.

It’s a move that has worked.

Schimberg’s 11-yard scoring run put Xavier on the scoreboard in the opening seconds of the second quarter, cutting North Scott’s lead to 14-6. His 2-yard touchdown run with nine seconds remaining in the first half cut the Lancers’ edge to 20-13.

“I’m just trying to follow in the footsteps of the guys who came before me,” said Schimberg, who has good feet but who also runs hard. “I’ve just got to do what is best for the team. I was surprised, yeah. It was really a cool moment (to be named starter), and I knew that I had to step up and help the team any way I could.”

Xavier kept the ball away from North Scott for 9:42 between the second and third quarters with long drives. The Lancers had just two first downs in the final half, one of them coming on the fateful play in which Gerardy was injured.

On its winning drive, Xavier took over at its 36 with 5:47 left and pecked its way down the field. The 10-play march consisted of three short pass completions and a bunch of runs that went for yardage between 5 and 11 yards.

The extra-point attempt was foiled by a bad snap, but it didn’t matter. As North Scott turned the ball over on downs at its own 40 with just under 30 seconds to go.

“We were just trying to get first downs, to be honest with you,” Schulte said. “Figure out a way to move the ball. We didn’t have any special plays or anything that we drew up at halftime. We were just trying to move the ball. Just came down to the spur of the moment, based on down and distance what we’d call. The guys stayed on their blocks a little bit better, Schimberg ran hard.”

“Big win for us,” Schimberg said. “Kind of put the confidence back in us. Couldn’t ask for a bigger win.”

Cedar Rapids Xavier 26, North Scott 20

(At Saints Field)

NS CRX

13 First downs 17

27-129 Rushes-yards 43-191

17-23-0 Comp.-att.-int. 10-14-0

140 Passing yards 123

269 Total yards 314

4-32.3 Punts-avg. 3-41.0

6-40 Penalties-yards 4-35

1-0 Fumbles-lost 2-0

North Scott 14 6 0 0-20

C.R. Xavier 0 13 7 6-26

Individual Statistics

Rushing - North Scott: Jerrod Lee 10-77, Kyler Gerardy 15-52, Hunter Fox 2, Cash Bowe 0. C.R. Xavier: Noah Schimberg 23-134, Coleton Beasler-Weber 1-30, Grant Helmle 5-28, Carter Hoffmann 1-5, Ronan Thomas 12-(minus) 4, Team 1-(minus) 2.

Passing - North Scott: Kyler Gerardy 15-19-0-132, Chase Smith 2-4-0-8. C.R. Xavier: Ronan Thomas 9-13-0-73, Noah Schimberg 1-1-0-50.

Receiving - North Scott: Case Bowe 9-96, Hunter Fox 3-21, Carson Lage 1-7, Colton Voss 1-7, Owen Jordahl 2-6. C.R. Xavier: Coleton Beasler-Weber 3-66, Jack Stevenson 3-33, Carter Hoffmann 3-17, Adam Cook 1-7.

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